


prelude (to saving the world)

by nowrunalong



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Dimension-Hopping Rose Tyler, Gen, Time Travel Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-18 21:13:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29124711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nowrunalong/pseuds/nowrunalong
Summary: Honestly, Buffy's never seen evidence that delivering cryptic messages is a helpful strategy for preventing the doom of all mankind.
Relationships: Buffy Summers & Rose Tyler
Comments: 7
Kudos: 11
Collections: X-Ship - The Crossover Flash Exchange





	prelude (to saving the world)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [silveradept](https://archiveofourown.org/users/silveradept/gifts).



“You’re Buffy Summers,” a voice to Buffy’s left says, and a girl in a blue leather jacket emerges from the Bronze's after-school crowd to stand next to her. She looks too old to be a student at Sunnydale High, although she could be college-aged, or maybe a teacher. Buffy regards her with a frown, considering how to respond.

“So what if I am?”

“I didn’t know it was you at first, is all,” the girl says. “I have a message for the Slayer.”

“Gee,” Buffy says flippantly. “Everyone’s got a message for the Slayer. I got it, okay? The Master. The Harvest. And you know, it’s not like that even rings a bell for me, because does anyone ever bother telling me straight-up what they’re talking about? You people are all with the cryptic warnings, and the days of research, and the ominous threats to my life. Have you ever considered that I’d do a better job of stopping the bad guys if you just told me what was gonna happen?”

“The Harvest?”

“Yeah. You know what that means? ‘Cause if so, you’re a step ahead of me. Hey, I have an idea! Why don’t _you_ stop it?”

“I got here too soon,” the girl says softly. She has an English accent, although it seems less old and uppity than Giles’, and not just because she looks twenty-something.

Buffy is nonplussed. “Isn’t that better than too late?”

But the girl is stepping away from her, fiddling with something she has tied around her neck like an overlarge pendant, underneath the zipper of her jacket.

“Good luck,” she says kindly, “with the Master. You're gonna be fantastic.”

And with that, she disappears into thin air.

*

The second encounter Buffy has with the girl in the blue leather jacket goes even more oddly, if that’s possible.

Buffy’s patrolling the campus grounds when the girl appears as suddenly as she’d disappeared three years ago. She tucks the magic pendant into her jacket and starts off down the path toward the school—straight past Buffy, without so much as a nod to acknowledge her.

“Hello?” Buffy calls, curiosity getting the better of her.

The girl continues walking.

“Hey!” As Buffy runs to catch up, the girl slows to a halt. “It’s me. Buffy.”

“I’m sorry,” the girl says. She doesn’t quite make eye contact with Buffy. Instead, she keeps glancing to the side, like she’s keen to get going. Her voice is exactly as quiet and English as Buffy had remembered. “I’m not whoever you’re looking for.”

“Okay, captain long-term memory loss.” 

English Girl frowns. “Have I been here already?”

Buffy goggles at her. “Three years ago,” she says. “You had some kinda message to deliver. So—did you do it? Save the world with cryptic warnings? Honestly, I’m telling you, I’ve seen no evidence that’s ever been a helpful strategy for preventing the doom of all mankind.”

“I haven’t, yet,” the girl says. “But I’m trying. I really am.” She fixes Buffy with her full attention then. She looks tired, and sorrowful, and Buffy suddenly regrets trying to pick a fight with her.

“I know the feeling,” Buffy admits.

The girl nods once. “I have to go,” she says.

Buffy smiles slightly. “Don’t forget to write.”

*

“Are you ever gonna tell me your name?” Buffy says a few months later, when the girl materializes behind her in the middle of Restfield Cemetery.

“It’s Rose.”

So she remembers Buffy this time, at least.

Rose is still wearing the same leather jacket. She doesn’t seem any older than she had been when Buffy had first seen her, unchanging like an imaginary friend.

“Um. How are you, Buffy?” Rose asks. She seems distracted, but Buffy appreciates the attempt at polite conversation nonetheless.

“Good,” Buffy tells her. “I met Dracula.”

“Dracula. Wow. Is that a normal sort of thing in your line of work?”

“Most of the vamps that want to bite me are pathetic losers, not global and historical celebrities, so I’d classify that week as of-the-unusual, even for me.” Buffy sits down on a headstone, her heels clicking against the engraved name. “Are you here to give me that message? After four years of suspense, I hope it’s a good one.”

“I thought you didn’t want to hear it.” Rose smiles, but it’s fleeting. Seriously, she says, “I’ve travelled here from another dimension.”

“I’ve met people from other dimensions before.”

Rose shakes her head and sits down on a neighbouring headstone. “This is different. Thousands of dimensions are organically interconnected. And then there are countless others that exist beyond that. It shouldn’t be possible to travel from my universe to yours. But the walls between dimensions are crumbling down. The effects are being felt across the cosmos. Across time. It hasn’t happened yet, in your world. And it can’t be allowed to happen.”

“What are you saying?”

Rose looks up at the sky. “The stars are going out.”

“And that’s something I can stop? I’m the Slayer. Dying stars and interdimensional drywall maintenance aren’t exactly my area of expertise.”

“Do you know what Glory wants?” Rose asks her.

“To go home," Buffy says.

“Exactly. And to do that, she needs to open a portal.” Rose curls her fingers tightly around the headstone she’s perched on. “Her portal isn’t a simple transport device. It’s messy. It doesn’t just open a gateway to her home dimension. It opens the gateways to _every_ dimension, all at once. Every universe imaginable will run together. If she manages to activate the portal, worlds like ours will be completely overrun with monsters within hours, or minutes.”

“Hell on Earth,” Buffy says lightly.

“I wanted to tell you sooner,” Rose says, “but I wasn’t sure who I was looking for. And then I was too early. And now I’m—” 

“And now you’re right on time.”

“I’m sorry,” Rose says.

“For what?”

“I’m sorry I can’t stay.”

“But the walls are all crumbly,” Buffy says. “Doesn’t that mean you’re allowed to be here?”

Rose smiles sadly in response, her feet meeting the grass with a soft scuffing sound as she hops down from the headstone.

“You won't be coming back, will you?" Buffy asks. It isn't really a question.

“I hope not,” Rose answers anyway. She shivers slightly, not in the manner of someone who is cold, but in the manner of someone who hasn't slept in days. Buffy wonders how long Rose had searched for her—how many places she'd had to look.

As Buffy looks on, Rose retrieves the magic disappearing button from underneath her leather jacket.

**Author's Note:**

> In case it's of interest... I had envisioned a fourth scene (fourth chronologically for Buffy, although not for Rose) in which Rose travels to Buffy's world in a "Glory wins" universe and learns that the Slayer can prevent this event from happening. I elected not to include it, though, because from the POV of canon!Buffy, the "Glory wins" timeline is erased, and so she would never meet Rose there.


End file.
